


Dividing Lines

by JLSigman



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5719783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JLSigman/pseuds/JLSigman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Final Fantasy XII, Larsa/Vayne: Forbidden pleasures - walking on tightrope</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dividing Lines

**Author's Note:**

> [Originally posted Feb 5, 2008](http://springkink.livejournal.com/470337.html#cutid1)

Arcadian gentry were expected to learn many noble arts in their youth: penmanship, poetry, mathematics, riding, fencing, archery, marksmanship, and music. The child’s future employment depended on how good or bad one was at these things. Excelling in penmanship could lead to a role as an artist; mathematics meant a life as a scholar and logician; riding opened up the ways to flight, and so on. The higher the noble family ranked, the more the children were expected to excel at multiple disciplines, including ones not normally offered to the everyday noble.

Larsa’s size, shape, and dexterity made him a perfect candidate for the physical demands of gymnastics. Therefore, three days a week Judge Magister Drace escorted the young lord to his tutor, where he worked in the practice ring with many different apparatus. He progressed from tumbles to cartwheels to flips, and then started through them again on a beam low to the ground, and then a higher beam, until finally he was dancing across a rope at the level of Drace’s worried eyes.

The days before Vayne’s departure for Rabanastre were full to bursting, but he made time to see his younger brother as often as possible. This was often not more than a few stolen moments in archways between responsibilities, until Vayne finally snarled at Ghis to handle some small affair and hurried to where he knew Larsa was in training.

Drace’s eyes widened slightly when he quietly walked in, making sure the door made no sound behind him, but he merely nodded and stood where he was, some feet from her but with a perfect view of the practice ring. In it, Larsa was stretching limbs that showed a promise of strength and grace in the years to come. When the squats and lunges were complete, a crystal quietly played back some century-old Arcadian war hymn while the younger man tumbled and leapt on the floor.

Vayne lost himself for a moment in the sheer beauty that was his brother. Not even he had been as graceful and bird-like as a child: he had been built more for boxing and wrestling than tumbling. Never before had he envied his brother for his abilities, but now, as the weight of the future of mankind was pressing on him, he longed to be able to move so freely. When Larsa finished, standing straight and proud, he found himself applauding loudly.

Larsa’s smile banished most of the darkness from Vayne’s mind for a moment. “Brother!” the younger man’s voice echoed in the nearly empty space.

Vayne smiled and waved his hand at the ring. “Pray, don’t let me interrupt your practice, brother. I needed a distraction from the inanities of service, and I wished to see you do what others have boasted of seeing.”

Larsa smiled again, and bowed, and turned to his instructor, and Vayne noticed his maturing body and wondered when this started happening. The softness of an infant was suddenly being replaced with the hard planes of a young man. The childish piping was turning into a lovely tenor, which carried and commanded respect without sounding forced. Vayne wondered what those childish, brotherly kisses would taste like now.

He took a deep breath, hoping that Drace would not notice his accelerated pulse and elevated temperature. His outfit would spare him any embarrassment, so he watched Larsa’s form bend backwards on the high beam, his tight clothing revealing that yes, he was even growing hair where a man does. Vayne swore to himself that he would protect his brother’s purity against all who would assail it. He would keep it safe so that no-one but he could revel in it.

His brother dismounted with a flourish and after bowing to his instructor, nearly skipped over and looked up. Vayne wondered how long before they were eye to eye. He put his hands on the thin shoulders and smiled. “You are a marvel, my brother. Please, come and dine with me this evening, we have much to discuss before my departure.” He hoped he wasn’t gripping the shoulders too tightly, but it was hard not to let his hands explore this familiar yet different body. They were no longer children who could share a bath…

Larsa nodded, and then Drace stepped forward to escort him to his bath and lessons. Her eyes were narrowed but veiled, and Vayne’s smile hid his ruminations on her replacement.


End file.
